Takeshi Morisato (森里 武)
Lecturer in Non-Western Philosophy
- Philosophy
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Contact details
- Tel: 0131 650 3371
- Email: tmorisat@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Room 9.06
- City
- 40 George Square, Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9JX
Availability
Office Hours: Fridays 13:00-15:00 or by Appointment.
Background
I am a Japanese national who grew up in Tokyo, Japan, but was born in Mexico City, in the year of the Dog. After studying and teaching philosophy in the United States, Europe, and China, I ended up specialising in East Asian and Japanese philosophy. I am currently serving as the editor of the "European Journal of Japanese Philosophy," and am the associate editor of the "Journal of East Asian Philosophy" (Springer). Currently I am also working as the regional editor of the “Bloomsbury Introduction to World Philosophies” series.
Qualifications
Ph.D. (Philosophy), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2016)
M.Phil. (Philosophy), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, (2012)
M.A. (Philosophy), Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles CA, USA (2009)
B.A. (Philosophy), University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney NE, USA (2007)
Responsibilities & affiliations
Edinburgh Buddhist Studies
European Network of Japanese Philosophy
Asian Philosophical Texts
International Society of East Asian Philosophy
Undergraduate teaching
- Buddhist Philosophy
- Japanese Philosophy
Postgraduate teaching
- Buddhist Philosophy
- Japanese Philosophy
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
I am open to topics in the field of "world philosophies," "East Asian/Japanese philosophy," and "Buddhist philosophy."
Current PhD students supervised
Joint Supervision
- Hannah Sasaoka-Berns (University of Gent), "The Primacy of Lived-Space: Architectural Theory and Practice in the Life and Work of Shirai Sei'ichi (白井晟一)"
- Douglas Atkinson (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), "Spectral Inversions of Beckett: On the Japanese Reception of Beckett’s Prose"
Research summary
My AOS is Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, and Existentialism.
My philosophical education included programs in both North American and European institutions which cherished the “History of Philosophy,” while remaining critically inclusive of continental philosophy. As a result, my first entry into the area of East Asian and Japanese philosophy was a comparative/continental approach. I now examine the histories of East Asian and Japanese philosophies within the context of “world philosophies.”
Most of my recent publications are dedicated to contemporary Japanese philosophy (especially the Kyoto School). However, with a view to teaching the history of Japanese philosophy at the PPLS, I am currently working on an introductory text on Kūkai 空海(774–835) and his Shingon Esoteric Buddhist philosophy.